Contract Management Specialist

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA); Midrand; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) seeks a Contract Management Specialist to lead contract management, provide legal advisory support, and embed robust monitoring and evaluation for lifecycle performance.

You will maintain contract files, manage milestones, support negotiations, and enhance templates and reporting to ensure regulatory and governance compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Law/SCM/Business Admin.
• Minimum 8 years’ contract management experience.
• Experience with ERP systems (SAP) for vendor/contract management.
• Professional certification in Contract Management (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Prepare, maintain and manage contract files, registers and centralised repositories.
• Track key contract milestones, deliverables, expiry dates, renewals and terminations.
• Coordinate contract signature processes and ensure documentation is complete and archived.
• Liaise with stakeholders to obtain required documentation for contract execution.
• Provide contract management support in drafting, review, and administration of contracts.
• Develop, maintain and review standard templates and clause banks.
• Review terms to ensure compliance with legislation, policies and governance standards.

Skills

Contract management

Stakeholder management

Regulatory compliance

Risk assessment

Reporting & analytics

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Law/SCM/Business Admin

Tools

SAP

Job description

The Contract Management Specialist leads the contract management function by providing legal advisory support and embedding a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism for contract lifecycle performance. Manages organisational compliance with contractual obligations, drives consistent contract standards, and enables performance visibility through reporting and analysis.

Key Responsibilities

Contract Management

• Prepare, maintain, and manage accurate contract files, registers, and centralised repositories, ensuring proper classification, version control, audit readiness, and secure record storage.
• Track key contract milestones, deliverables, expiry dates, renewals, termination periods, guarantees, insurance requirements, and other contractual obligations.
• Coordinate contract signature processes and ensure all contractual documentation is complete, compliant, and properly archived.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders, service providers, contractors, suppliers, and third parties to obtain required documentation and facilitate contract execution.
• Provide contract management advice and support in the drafting, review, negotiation, execution, and administration of project‑specific contracts and agreements.
• Develop, maintain, standardise, and periodically review contract templates, clause banks, and standard agreements for the Division.
• Review and analyse contract terms, conditions, and obligations to ensure compliance with legislation, regulatory requirements, internal policies, governance standards, and industry practices.
• Monitor and manage the full contract lifecycle, including amendments, addenda, variations, renewals, and terminations.
• Conduct contract risk assessments and trend analysis, and recommend mitigation strategies to safeguard organisational and project interests.
• Track contractor and service provider performance against contractual deliverables, milestones, KPIs, and service level agreements.
• Communicate contractual obligations, implementation requirements, and compliance updates to programme and project delivery teams.
• Lead and support complex contract negotiations, dispute resolution processes, and mediation, adjudication, or arbitration matters, including the management of external legal counsel.
• Prepare and evaluate contractual claims, including extensions of time, prolongation costs, acceleration costs, and professional service claims, and provide strategic recommendations.
• Liaise with stakeholders on contractual matters relating to delays, variations, extensions of time, disputes, and compliance requirements.
• Escalate and manage potential contract‑related legal risks and disputes in collaboration with Legal and Risk functions.
• Perform post‑tender award activations including with the generation of orders on the ERP System.
• Assist in informing and feeding into the Demand Management cycle regarding the organisation’s contract management needs, including identification of current and future contract requirements.

Contract Performance Monitoring and Evaluation

• Develop and implement KPIs and performance measures for contracts, projects, and service providers.
• Monitor contract compliance, performance milestones, deliverables, and service level agreements.
• Conduct regular contract audits and performance reviews to identify risks, trends, variances, and underperformance.
• Analyse contractor and service provider performance data and implement corrective action plans where required.
• Generate dashboards, reports, and performance insights to support informed decision‑making and continuous improvement.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance contract performance, compliance, governance, and value realisation.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

• Contribute to the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of contract management frameworks, policies, procedures, controls, and governance standards.
• Maintain compliance with legal, regulatory, procurement, governance, and internal policy requirements across all contracts.
• Monitor adherence to governance, documentation, approval, and record‑keeping requirements.
• Prepare periodic reports on contract status, performance, risks, disputes, and compliance gaps for Executive Management, Audit Committees, Legal, Procurement, and Risk structures.
• Support internal and external audit processes and implement audit findings related to contract management and compliance.
• Liaise with Internal Audit, Legal, Procurement, and Risk teams to ensure alignment with governance and compliance requirements.
• Identify contract‑related risks and implement mitigation strategies to minimise operational, legal, and financial exposure this including training stakeholders on contract management processes.

Vendor Management and Performance Support

• Provide support to the contract owner on monitoring contract performance against agreed deliverables, milestones, service levels, and timelines.
• Collate service provider performance data and evidence against service level agreements and key performance indicators.
• Support the scheduling and logistics of performance review sessions with internal teams and providers.
• Prepare draft performance reports, dashboards, and escalation documentation for review.
• Keep a record of reported service provider challenges and the tracking of performance issues, corrective actions, and follow‑up activities.
• Management and maintenance of the vendor onboarding process and amendments and ensure supplier data accuracy for SCM related reporting.

Reporting and Document Management

• Produce accurate and insightful management reports by continuously monitoring contract metrics and performance indicators.
• Analyse contract and operational data to identify trends, risks, improvement opportunities, and strategic insights.
• Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date contract records, documentation systems, trackers, and reporting tools.
• Prepare contract status, compliance, governance, and performance reports for management and governance structures.
• Support governance submissions, management reviews, and audit processes through the preparation of accurate and comprehensive documentation and reporting inputs.
• Contribute to the enhancement and implementation of digital contract management systems, trackers, and reporting tools to improve process efficiency, data integrity, and reporting accuracy.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Compliance with legal, regulatory, procurement, and internal governance requirements achieved across all contracts.
• Successful completion of internal and external audits with minimal findings.
• Contractor and service provider performance monitored against KPIs, SLAs, deliverables, and milestones.
• Performance dashboards and contract audit reports are produced regularly.
• Corrective action plans implemented for underperforming contracts and service providers.
• Percentage of contracts reviewed and processed within agreed turnaround times.
• Percentage of high‑risk contracts with mitigated legal risks.
• Percentage of contracts with performance KPIs and monitoring mechanisms embedded.

Expertise & Technical Competencies

Minimum Qualification

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Law, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration/Management or related field.

Minimum Experience

• A minimum of 8 years of experience in contract management in the procurement context or legal/contracts management.
• Experience in managing high‑value and complex contracts across the full contract lifecycle.
• Demonstrated experience in contract performance monitoring, compliance management, governance reporting, and audit support.
• Experience engaging with internal and external stakeholders, including legal advisors, contractors, consultants, and service providers.
• Experience in managing contracts across multiple business units in a regulated environment
• Understanding of contract management principles and practices.
• Awareness of performance monitoring and evaluation techniques.
• Demonstrated experience and proven proficiency in the use of ERP systems for vendor and contract management (e.g., SAP or equivalent systems).

Desirable Requirements

• Professional certification in Contract Management or Procurement (e.g. CIPS).
• A postgraduate qualification in Contract Management, Construction Law, Commercial Law, Procurement, Project Management, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration or related.
• Experience in a finance, development finance, or public sector environment.
• Understanding of PFMA, BBBEE Act, PPPFA, CIDB Act and National Treasury Regulations.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

Knowledge of contracts

• Makes sound financial decisions after having analysed their impacts on the organisation, partner agencies, and community.
• Effectively prepares budgetary submissions and forecasts for own department.
• Knows the internal and external factors that impact resource and asset availability.
• Is able to interpret management account reports in an operational/commercial context and take action as appropriate to maximise revenues and control costs.

Procurement Services

• Based upon a thorough understanding of user requirements, can research alternative sources that will fulfil internal customer needs with favourable commercial terms.
• Identifies the needs of the user departments and advises on appropriate sourcing and selection approaches and processes.
• Articulates and prepares requirement documents and related elements of the procurement request, including terms and conditions for the sourcing, selection and award process.
• Receives, safeguards, opens, records, tracks, assesses compliance with terms, and summarises bids/quotations.
• Evaluates bids, including identifying and resolving mistakes, and awarding contracts.
• Develops relationships by effectively resolving complaints and concerns.

Financial Acumen

• Through a broad and deep understanding of contracting best practice, can define DBSA contracting policy.
• Develops contract award documents, ensuring DBSA's interests are protected.
• Drafts, monitors and ensures performance of special terms of contract.
• Ability to apply remedy to protect DBSA’s rights.
• Ability to enforce compliance.
• Monitors contractor compliance to identify, document and resolve potential or actual problems.
• Determine which contractual remedy, if any, applies and employ that remedy.
• Conducts post‑award orientation, monitors contract performance and takes necessary action related to delays in contract performance.
• Analyses and negotiates modification and termination of contracts.
• Evaluates the impact of selected issues to determine the need for top management involvement.

Project Management

• Defines, plans, and manages large and/or strategic projects, including those with a high degree of technical complexity, with impacts across the organisation and/or with national implications.
• Assembles and leads diverse and multidisciplinary teams, ensuring maximum effective resource utilisation.
• Successfully manages substantial project budgets and reports directly to senior managers on the progress and results of projects.
• Identifies complex issues that need escalation and proposes appropriate corrective actions.

Business Acumen

• Takes actions to fit business strategy.
• Assesses and links short‑term tasks in the context of long‑term business strategies or perspectives.
• Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering possible opportunities or projects, or thinks about long‑term applications of current activities.
• Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives.
• Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.

Strategic Planning

• Establishes challenging, attainable goals and objectives based on a customer focus perspective.
• Looks to the future with a broad perspective.
• Ensures performance measures are in place to monitor progress and assess accomplishments and achievement of strategic goals and objectives.
• Develops initiatives to achieve goals and objectives.
• Articulates the vision and plans to others.

Required Personal Attributes

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

Strategic and Innovative Thinking

• Recognises opportunities or problems emerging in patterns and trends, and their impact on the business and profitability drivers.
• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others, leveraging internal and external sources of information, to build incremental revenue and growth opportunities.
• Develops innovative business and/or customer solutions that shape industry practices.

Leading and Empowering Others

• Creates the conditions that enable the team to perform at its best (e.g., setting clear direction, providing appropriate structure, getting the right people, obtain needed resources).
• Monitors performance against clear standards, addresses performance issues promptly and takes action to get performance back to desired levels.
• Supports the team publicly by demonstrating confidence in the team to others; recognises and rewards superior individual effort and does not take personal credit for the team’s success.
• Identifies long‑term goals for the team and communicates them to team members, ensuring their buy‑in.

Attention to detail

• Monitors the quality of others’ work.
• Checks to see that procedures are followed by others.
• Keeps clear, detailed records of own and/or others’ activities.

Developing others

• Gives directions or demonstrations with reasons or rationale as a training strategy.
• Gives practical support or assistance to make the job easier for the other individual.
• Asks questions, gives tests, or uses other methods to verify that others have understood the explanation or directions.

Customer service orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and matches these needs to available or customised products and services.
• Adapts processes and procedures to meet ongoing customer needs.
• Utilises the feedback received by customers, in order to develop new and/or improve existing services/ products that relate to their ongoing needs.
• Thinks of new ways to align DBSA’s offerings with future customer needs.

Integrity

• Takes pride in being trustworthy, serves all equally, respects others and embraces diversity.
• Acts on values when high cost or risk is associated with doing so.
• Acts consistently with basic values of openness and honesty.

Analytical Thinking

• Breaks problems into simple lists of tasks or activities without assigning values.
• Analyses and interprets multiple complex causal links: several potential causes of events, several consequences of actions, or multiple‑part chains of events in order to prioritise and develop a plan of action.
• Identifies multiple elements of a problem and breaks down each of those elements in detail, showing causal relationships between them.

Driving Delivery of Results

• Identifies a business opportunity or a barrier to performance and takes action to address it.
• Sets challenging goals that will have a significant impact on the business or support the organisational strategy.
• Identifies and implements a business opportunity that will have a long‑term impact on the business (which may include the organisation’s reputation or brand image).
• Monitors progress and adapts the plan if necessary to ensure optimal benefit to the business.

*The KPA’s, competencies and relationships listed in this document are not exhaustive, and the incumbent will be expected to undertake additional duties within their capacity to meet the needs of business and/or the business unit.*